...divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of trade disputes and diplomatic relations between China under the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the British Empire.
Qing attitudes toward trade
The Qing and their predecessors, the Ming (after the famous journeys of Zheng He), shared an ambivalent attitude towards overseas trade, and maritime activity in general. Qing anti-business attitudes were further aggravated by traditional Confucian disdain for merchants and traders. Qing officials believed that trade incited unrest and disorder, promoted piracy, and threatened China's defences. The Qing instituted a set of rigid regulations regarding trade at Chinese ports, setting up four maritime customs offices (in Canton, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu) and a 20 percent tariff on all foreign goods. These policies succeeded only in establishing a system of kickbacks and purchased monopolies that enriched the officials who administered coastal regions.
Opium Trade
Low Chinese demand for European goods, and high European demand for Chinese goods, including tea, silk, and porcelain, forced European merchants to purchase these goods with silver, the only currency the Chinese would accept. From the mid-17th century a trade surplus was enjoyed by China of around 28 million kilograms of silver, principally from European powers, in exchange for Chinese goods. British traders blamed the restrictions of trade in Canton for their failure to balance their exports with their imports. The British and other Europeans tried to reduce their trade deficit (the great mercantilist sin) by importing tea from India and other places, and Germans managed to reverse engineer the making of porcelain, but the deficit remained.
Opium was first introduced to China by Turkish and Arab traders, and had been used in China since the 7th century AD for medicinal purposes. It was not until the 17th century, though, that the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking was introduced into China by Europeans. With India and its poppy fields under British control, the obvious way to correct the trade deficit was to start exporting opium to China. The Qing Administration initially tolerated opium importation, because it created an indirect tax on Chinese subjects, while allowing the British to double tea exports from China to England—which profited the monopoly for tea exports of the Qing imperial treasury and its agents.
In 1729, the import of opium into China stood at 200 chests, each holding about 55 kg (121 pounds) of opium. In 1810, the Emperor issued a decree banning the trade or consumption of opium, but it had little effect. The Qing government, in Beijing in the north of China, was unable to halt opium smuggling in the southern provinces. By the 1820s China was importing 900 tons (15,000 chests) of Bengali opium annually. The planting of tea in the Indian and African colonies along with accelerated opium consumption reversed the flow of silver, just when the Imperial Treasury needed to finance suppression of rebellions against the Qing. The Qing government attempted to end the opium trade, but its efforts were complicated by local officials, who profited greatly from the bribes and taxes.
By 1838 China was importing 40,000 chests annually. With the drain of silver and the growing number of people addicted to the drug, the Daoguang Emperor demanded action. The Emperor sent Lin Zexu as Imperial Commissioner to Guangzhou, where he quickly arrested Chinese opium dealers and summarily demanded that foreign firms turn over their stocks. When they refused, Lin blockaded the British traders in their factories and cut off supplies of food. On March 27, 1839 Charles Elliot, British Superintendent of Trade—who had been locked in the factories when he arrived at Canton—finally agreed that all British subjects should turn over their opium, amounting to nearly a year's supply of the drug, to Lin Zexu. On his own authority, Elliot promised merchants that the Crown would compensate them for the lost opium. This amounted to a tacit acknowledgment that the British government supported the trade. Unable to allocate funds for an illegal drug but pressed for compensation by the merchants, this liability is cited as one reason for the decision to force a war.
In addition to seizing supplies in the factories, Chinese troops boarded British ships in international waters outside Chinese jurisdiction, where their cargo was still legal, and destroyed the opium aboard. 20,000 chests were handed over and destroyed beginning 3 June 1839. After the opium was surrendered, trade was restarted on the strict condition that no more drugs be smuggled into China.
Following the collection and destruction of the opium, Lin Zexu wrote an official memorial to Queen Victoria (she supposedly never received it) questioning the moral reasoning of the British government. Citing what he understood to be a strict prohibition of the trade within Great Britain, Lin questioned how Britain could then profit from the drug in China. In fact, opium was not illegal in England at the time. British merchants offered no response to Lin, accusing him of destroying their property.
The Kowloon (Carnatic) Incident (July 1839)
The Chinese fort in Kowloon, 1841
On Sunday, 7 July 1839, a large group of British and American sailors, including crew from the British clipper ship Carnatic, ashore at Kowloon, a provisioning point, became drunk on samshu, a rice wine. The sailors then vandalised a Buddhist temple and killed a man named Lin Weixi. Because China did not have a jury trial system or evidentiary process (the magistrate was the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner), the British demanded extraterritoriality, the right to have British subjects tried by British judges. Qing authorities demanded that the men be handed over for trial, and further insisted that British merchants not be allowed to trade unless they signed a bond, under penalty of death, promising not to smuggle opium. Citing China’s different legal system as the reason for his refusal to hand over any suspects or agree to the bonds, Charles Elliot ordered the British community to withdraw from Canton and prohibited trade with the Chinese. Some merchants who did not deal in opium were willing to sign the bond, thereby weakening the British position. On Captain Elliot’s authority, the six sailors were tried by the British authorities in Canton, but were immediately released once they reached England. Tensions continued to increase. Qing officials declared that foreign merchants would not be allowed to trade with China unless they agreed to abide by Chinese law and Chinese legal jurisdiction. Elliot responded by suspending all British trade with China.